The flu forefront Students get vaccinated at school

SOMERSWORTH — With flu season upon us, many schools in Strafford County will be hosting free flu clinics for students. Idlehurst Elementary was first to enlist students into the flu fighting army.

Licensed and trained professionals from Goodwin Community Health set up a vaccination station in the school’s cafeteria Wednesday morning from 8:45 a.m. until noon.

The live clinic had seen 80 students already an hour in and approximately 175 students were expected to receive the convenient, no-cost flu shot or nasal mist. The vaccination was optional and students had been sent home with consent forms.

Tiffany Burdick, Jannell Levine and Coreen Toussaint of Goodwin Community Health coaxed and reassured each hesitant child before and during the administering of their flu shots or nasal sprays.

Burdick said of the elementary students, “Some of them are nervous. They’re not sure what they’re getting into.”

The students filed in by grade and alphabetically by teacher. They then checked in and received name badges from Parks Christenbury of the Somersworth Fire Department, who had been sent in to help with the clinic.

The Director of Public Health for Goodwin, Melissa Silvey, said the live clinic was the first of 16 or 17 that will be held throughout the county.

“We’re doing these through a $10,000 grant and we’re really trying to hit the under-insured and under-covered communities,” she said.

Silvey said the Center for Disease Control’s representative that oversees the state-level immunization effort was part of the government shutdown and has been placed on furlough.

“I’m not sure what that will mean for us going forward, but luckily we already had ordered in all of the flu clinic stuff,” she said.

Jim Richardson of Carroll County Public Health was also on site as he has five years of experience with the clinic in other areas of the state.

“Usually the schools get 25 percent participation on average,” he said of the students who receive the flu shots. “Here, 175 out of 500 are on the list, so that’s great.”

Parents were able to opt-in their students for the vaccine, or others could receive it if they met 10 checkpoint criteria on a symptoms list.

After receiving the shot or mist, students were then directed to a separate part of the cafeteria to be observed for 15 minutes.

“We want to make sure they don’t show any adverse reactions,” said Silvey.

Emily Martuscello, an emergency preparedness coordinator for Strafford County, awarded the flu fighters with a shiny new pencil and coloring activities focused on hand washing and emergency preparedness.

“We have them for 15 minutes, so they might as well learn something,” she said of the coloring pages. Martuscello said hand washing is the number one way to prevent the spread of any germs.

“They’ve all been really brave,” she said of the students.

The in-school flu clinics are convenient for parents who would otherwise have to plan and schedule a time to bring their children to the doctor. It also reduces the likelihood they’d have to miss work to care for a sick child.

Anyone can catch the flu, but rates of infection are highest among children. According to the New Hampshire Immunization Program, “Everyone six months of age and older should get a flu vaccine every year as soon as the current season’s vaccines are available to stay protected against the most current and common flu strains.”

Influenza information can be obtained through the NH Immunization Program at (800) 852-3345 ext. 4482 or through local school nurses.